Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-03-04

left for the future to decide
Hours passed and he did not return.
She asked the woman when he was likely
to be home and then was angry with
herself for having asked the question
for having admitted that this person was
more in his confidence than herself The
surly woman gave Trip her meals as
usual, and the poor young wife made
vain efforts TO swallow them.
Ten O'Clock came, and her husband had
not returned.
Trip ran down stairs, and told the
woman, Nelly, not to sit up she would.
"Sit up" sneered Nelly. You'll
| have to sit up all night, then. He won't
| be back till morning, if he comes at all,
and when he comes he won't want you"
Trip flared up. "You insolent woman,
! how dare you speak to me like that?
| You know where Mr. Beaufort is? Where
| is hep
Then the woman put her hands on her
hips, looked at the poor girl and burst
into derisive laughter
Unable to endure her offensive conduct
longer, Trip ran upstairs and threw her
self on her bed, and burst into bitter
weeping through humiliation and dis
tress.
Now she remembered Joe'S warming,
how he had bid her beware of the man
who had bewitched her with appeals to
her vanity. Now she felt what fatal
mistake she had made in rejecting faith
full solid Joe's offer. 1t was too late. As
she had made her bed so MUST she lie in
it. But, OH what n bed of thorns it
was already proving itself to be.
Oh, that dear old windmill, The
happy hours she had spent in it, the
creaking Of the timber in the stress of the
wind, the whirr of the wings the grind
of the wheels the throb of the shifter,
the rattle of the linking box. How all
I these sounds came back to her in the
, night. She had lowered the gas to a pea,
, and lay on her bed thinking, her brain
wide awake in nervous eXcitation.
OH the pleasant smell of the -four,
and the bean field in June in full bios
I som
How sweet Joe's honey had been, No
: honey like it in the world. He kept in
, the mill some bread and plate of comb,
and he had allowed Trip always when
she came TO the mill, to eat his bread
q and honey.
Q She thought of the little house with
n its tile roof, and the sunilOwers and
hives; and the willows about the garden
growing out of the edge of the dixie, anC-
of the duckweed, and the white shining
Il flowers studding the water like stars
< studding the sky Then she left the bed,
Il work box till she found her whistle; and
n now she took piece of string and fas-
tened it to the whistle, and hung it round
her neck. 1t should hang there dear
n remembrance of happy old times, of in
nocent, sunny childhood, when she had
o. no sorrows, no dark and dreadful future
before her.
She threw herself on the bed again
le and found her pillow wet with tears.
# She put the whistle to her lips, not to
<, pipe loud on it, but to try it, to call up
1t old associations. Alas! the whistle would
e. not act, the back was split. She had
re pipcd the last call on it that night in the
,s park when Joe had refused to return
Is piped her last chance away; now the
+. voice was gone from the whistle, and
,r with it's failure it appeared to Trip
- as if every hope was gone from her
o. Who could help her now? Algernon Beau
8 fort was her lawful husband and protec-
tor What could Joe do for her or her
n father and mother?
ID Oh the shame of having to return to
It Ringwood with the confession that she
IN had been dupedl How could she face
,e Joe? How bear the jeers of those who
IS had encouraged her, yet had secretly en-
le WED her, and would rejoice over her dis
appointment?
A. Eleven O'Clock had struck. Twelve
e. midnight was past. One o'clock. Still
st her husband was not returned. She
d knew that the woman Nelly was below,
awake and waiting for her masters re-
le turn. What was more, she was making
.e up great fire in the stove in the dining
room.
l. Nelly was much older than Mr.. Beau
q fort, very ugly, but her expression was
,e much more ugly than her features. She
:, certainly was wholly in his confidence;
and he must assuredly be afraid of
n offending her, or he would not have
d suffered her to behave rudely to his wife.
e Trip was sure that Mr. Beaufort loved
II her; she was quite assured that She did
not love him, never had loved hm-and
she was linked to him by her own act for
life.
- Two o'clock.
. Nelly was at the fire stirring it, adding
coal and coke Then Trip heard a soft
Y, step on the stair, or rather the creak of
h the stair under an ascending heavy tread,
r and once the rattle of a loose bar in the
. banister Trip heard the step at her
I, door. Nelly had come there to listen if
Ii her mistress were asleep, to see if the
/ room were dark. Apparently satisfied,
IS Nelly descended with less caution thal
Y, she had mounted The woman thought
e Trip young vain, pretty fool, not re-
&c curing much watching, incapable of
1t giving much trouble,
II Three o'clock.
lie Still no signs of the return of Mr.,
Beaufort. Where could he be? What
ID could he be doing? Why should he con-
1T ceal his movements from his own wife,
D. Trip rose from the bed and went to the
n window; at the head of the row was a
x gaslight, none lower. Another would be
st added, may be, when the row was COM
h pleted and the houses let The road was
bad, furrowed with the wheels of carts
81 and traction engines that brought build
t. ing materials to the newly erecting houses.
1t Surely the new day was dawning
d There was raw light behind that house
er opposite which was uninhabited. Surely
l, there was some discerning of the bushes
g nd L.. of hn ~ L. nrlLa